The Mercury Transfer Module (foreground, with two large solar wings) carries the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (middle, with one solar wing pointing up) and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (hidden inside the solar shield, on the far side) to Mercury.

Artist’s impression of the BepiColombo ‘stack’ as seen from above. JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter can be seen inside the sunshield at the top of the stack, with ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter below. The Mercury Transfer Module is at the bottom.

ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter, with the Sun-facing side of the solar array (left) visible. The flat panel at the right is the radiator. The main instrument panel that faces towards Mercury is out of view in this orientation.

Exploded view of the BepiColombo spacecraft components. From bottom to top these are: the Mercury Transfer Module, Mercury Planetary Orbiter, Sunshield and Interface Structure, and Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. The spacecraft are shown with solar arrays and instruments deployed.

Credits: ESA/ATG medialab

Meet the fleet

New artist's views of the BepiColombo spacecraft that will be launched to Mercury in 2018